Tools

Set in one of Atlanta’s roughest neighborhoods, this energetic mockumentary recalls the reality-TV chestnut COPS, though it's told from the perp's perspective. A small-time dope dealer (photogenic ex-con Curtis Snow) steals a video camera from some naive college kids, then decides to record his every move for posterity. Several scenes were clearly staged, but much of the action looks quite real—enough so, director Damon Russell claims, that local police interrupted shooting over a dozen times. Some humor arises from the protagonist's delusions of grandeur, but there's nothing funny about the climax, when his family's history of violence repeats itself.
ByAndrea Gronvall